Episode 95

Hurricane Helene: A Sacred Feminine Inspired Response

Published on: 17th October, 2024

On this episode I'm joined by Byron Ballard, author and co-founder of the Mother Grove Goddess Temple, and Amelia "Mia" Solesky, Mother Grove's Mycelium Mama, AKA volunteer coordinator, to discuss the environmental crisis in Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene, and what a community-centered, Goddess-inspired response looks like.

During this special episode we discuss:

  • The scope of devastation in Western North Carolina, and why it's important for outsiders to stay away from the area
  • How the community, including the Mother Grove Goddess Temple is organizing itself and collaborating with other community members to provide grass roots support
  • Why it's important to take our responses offline and physically into our communities, however we can
  • The magic embedded in a warm hat we've made for someone vs. simply buying one on Amazon
  • What a mycelium-inspired volunteer effort looks like, and the impact it can have

Show Notes:

  • You can learn more about the Mother Grove here: https://mothergrove.org/
  • You can learn specifically about Hurricane Helene relief efforts here: https://mothergrove.org/hurricane-hel...
  • You can sign up to join Mother Grove's Mycelium Network here:
  • This is the quote I mentioned at the beginning of the show: "If there's anything the Sacred Feminine is, it is love in action, love birthing itself in action incessantly." It's from the book Return of the Mother, by Andrew Harvey.
  • Reminder that you can find out whose native lands you're residing on at native-land.ca.
  • You can also learn more about me and my work at www.hometoher.com.
Transcript
Speaker:

Hello, and welcome to Home to Her,

the podcast that's dedicated to

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reclaiming the lost and stolen

wisdom of the sacred feminine.

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I'm your host, Liz Kelley, and on

each episode, we explore her stories

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and myths, her spiritual principles,

and most importantly, what this

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wisdom has to offer us right now.

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Thanks for being here.

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Let's get started.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Hey everybody and welcome to the show.

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This is Liz joining you as usual

from central Virginia and the

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unseeded lands of the Monica nation.

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And I am so glad that

you're here with me today.

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As always, if you want to know whose

lands native lands you might be residing

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on, please check out the map online

native dash land dot C a I will put

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that in the show notes as I always do.

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And hey, if you are a regular

listener to the show, you might

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have been wondering where I've

been for the last couple months.

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So I, I did want to address that.

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If you follow me on social, or

if you receive my newsletter,

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you will already know this.

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But I have been in the midst

of a separation from my partner

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of Really married for 18

years partnered for 20 years.

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And so it's been quite a significant

shift the last year has been particularly

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intense and especially the last few months

as we've navigated moving to different

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houses and Co parenting schedules and all

of that life has been quite a ride and

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I may speak about it more here It's very

emergent right now, but I just wanted

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to Name that and that I don't have any

intention of letting go of this show Some

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of you have reached out to me directly

and and asked me to continue doing

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episodes And I do have every intention

of that and I think for me the sacred

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feminine is all about well, she's about

many things but emergence is absolutely

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one of them and allowing what needs to

appear to appear and Not putting ourselves

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in rigid rigid boxes and structures.

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And so while I love to release these

episodes every new and full moon If I

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don't have the stamina and the energy

and the focus to do so, I won't do so.

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So that's where I'm at.

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And that said, I've got many new

episodes that are scheduled to be

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recorded and I'm planning to release

them throughout the end of the year.

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So I will cautiously, intensively

say that I think I'm back.

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But you know, just give me some grace.

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If, if one doesn't show up,

then know that I'm still in my

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process and working through it

and I'll be with you when I can.

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And with that, I want to

start today's episode.

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This is kind of a special episode.

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I, I am excited that I'm

returning of sorts with this.

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But as I was preparing this morning and

thinking, I was remembering this beautiful

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quote by the writer Andrew Harvey, and

I don't have it exactly in front of me,

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but this is what I remember him saying.

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If the sacred feminine is

anything, it is love in action.

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Love incessantly birthing

itself again and again.

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And I'm going to find that and put it in

the show notes so I get it exactly right.

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But it is, that is the essence of it.

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And I think we can explore the sacred

feminine from all kinds of angles

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and We can think about it in terms

of philosophically and you know,

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what does it feel like in the body?

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And i'm deeply interested if you've

been listening to the show for a while

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You know this I am deeply interested

in what does it mean to actually see?

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The values or the expression of

the sacred feminine in action.

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And so my show today that's

what we're going to talk about

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I have with me Byron Ballard.

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She's been on the show multiple times.

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I'm sure you probably Recognize her name

and her face if you're watching Byron

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is the Appalachian Witch of Asheville,

North Carolina, and the co founder of

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the Mother Grove Goddess Temple there.

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I'm also joined by the wonderful

and amazing Mia Selesky.

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She is on the board of the Mother

Grove Goddess Temple, and she

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is also their mycelium mama.

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Also known as a volunteer coordinator.

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She's going to explain that to us.

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But they're here today to talk

about what's happening in Western

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North Carolina and how this goddess

inspired, sacred, feminine response

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to the recent Hurricane Helene

there what that actually looks like.

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So thank you both.

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I know you're really busy.

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I'm so grateful for you

both joining me today.

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Thank you.

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Thank you so much for having us.

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Absolutely.

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And so what I thought might be

helpful, just to set a stage, if

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either of you, you know, and as

we're recording this, the hurricane

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Milton is hitting Florida right now.

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I'm not exactly sure when this episode is

going to be out, but you know, we are, we

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are recording right in the midst of that.

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So we, you know, we are, we

are, we are living through these

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climate catastrophes as we speak.

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And I, I am, we I'm wondering if

one or both of you could just speak

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to the situation in Western North

Carolina right now to help people

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understand what an intense an

unusual situation this is right now.

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This to, to put it bluntly,

this is our Katrina.

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Yeah.

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We had thousand, a thousand year

flood and the, it is, except

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for the immediate downtown of

Asheville, everything is devastated.

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We cannot drive from here to

Tennessee on I 40 until November

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of next year, if we're lucky.

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We've seen landslides.

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We've seen rockfalls.

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We have seen houses literally picked

up off their foundation by small rivers

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and deposited in the neighbor's yard.

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We, we don't even know the extent of the

damage yet, but we know that in Buncombe

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County, the water system was destroyed.

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So it's not a matter of just Of

just making sure the water is

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potable and and all the things

you have to do for a water system.

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They're having to rebuild our water

system, and they can't do that until

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they rebuild roads to get to the

places to rebuild the water system.

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We have been so fortunate

power companies from across.

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Well, I was going to

say across the country.

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The U.

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S.

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but we have people here from Canada too

who are helping us get power back on.

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I am really fortunate in

my home that I have power.

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We got power a couple days ago which makes

everything a little bit easier to do.

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But, but the, the real, I'm not

going to say the real, there is a

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devastation outside of Asheville.

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Everybody knows Asheville now because

it's a, it's a cool place to go.

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But, These slopes were not,

they were never meant to have

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22 inches of rain in two hours.

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They just weren't.

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These rivers can't hold that.

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And so we are looking at towns that

are, literally, don't exist anymore.

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They've all just been

blown away with the water.

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The River Arts District, which is right

above my, right below my house, Has

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always been an art center for really

edgy artists that can't, you know,

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they're, they're not the people who are

in downtown galleries in New York and DC.

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And whole buildings are lost, Liz.

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Whole buildings, whole

communities are lost.

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And my words are not

enough to describe it.

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It's horrific.

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And I want to say this now,

before I forget, don't come here.

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Don't come here with the idea that

you're going to help because you're

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just going to clutter things up.

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If you want to help send money to

reliable places and Mother Grove is one

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of those, but certainly not the only one.

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Send money, send your

thoughts and prayers.

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I want to see the, the national

and international goddess and

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pagan community paying attention.

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We mock Christians all the time

because, Oh, I don't know what to do.

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I'll send thoughts and prayers.

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You know what, right now we'll

take your thoughts and prayers.

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We'll take your donations.

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We'll take what we can get, but don't

come here either as a disaster tourist

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or good with good intentions to help.

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Because you just can't.

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The roads cannot handle more traffic

and for god's sake don't come here

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thinking you can camp and look at the

colors stay out Stay out send money.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for saying that and I just I

wanted to add to For people who are not

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from that area when byron says that i 40

is you can't drive it We're talking about

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so for those of you on the east coast.

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That's like A major chunk of

I 95 being gone for a year.

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Like you trying to move through the

states in the northeast or for those

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of you on the west coast losing I five.

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So you cannot trans, you can't

get back and forth from LA to

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correct Cisco or San Diego.

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A massive thing.

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It's a major interstate highway that

goes from east to west and west to east.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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It's, it's, yeah, it's a, it's a

big deal and I I so appreciate I

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would like to add in there too.

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Yeah, please.

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I normally commute pretty

often to Asheville.

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I mean, I'm up there every other weekend.

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I'm there for our circle

of council meetings.

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And it is like, even though I am

an hour and a half away, that they

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are on the other side of the world.

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I cannot get there.

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Even if I want, you know, if

I had the ability, there's

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not the roads to get there.

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And when you get to the

roads that could lead you in.

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They're so unstable.

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If you're not in a four wheel

drive vehicle, you're risking

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your life and whoever would be

responding to your accident.

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It is deeply irresponsible to

try to go up there right now.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for putting that in perspective

and So I want to talk about so byron

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you were on the show not too long ago

Actually, we were talking about your

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upcoming book feral church and the the

idea of I want you to speak to that, but

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from my perspective, the idea of sort

of reclaiming this idea of spirituality,

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putting it back in the community, putting

it back into our own hands and our, and

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making it rooted deeply in the goddess.

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And so here, now, Is a prime example

of what this looks like in real life.

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And, and I would imagine we would

all wish to be talking about this

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from a more joyful place, right?

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Like a celebration of

of something new life.

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But I'd love to hear you both kind

of talk about how the mother grove is

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playing this role, this, this feral

church role and what that means in

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responding to a situation like this.

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I don't know where to start.

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For over a decade, I have been

touring the country talking about

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community, community, community.

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I've been beating the drum for community.

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And and Mother Grove Goddess Temple

is, I think, about 18 years old now.

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And we have reliably for many years,

except during COVID, we have we've

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done Public rituals for the eight

holy days, nine, if you count Earth

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Day, we have had a food pantry.

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We've taught classes.

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We've done all those things that

a quote unquote church would do.

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But community is a hard thing and

community requires Action and it

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requires tending and and out of my

teaching and my frankly proselytizing

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about the concept of circles on

the ground, which is relocalizing

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everything that can be relocalized and

saying, because the climate change.

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We don't even begin to understand

what that's going to look like,

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but it's going to be dramatic

and we need to be ready for it.

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And I've been frustrated time and

again with communities nodding.

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Oh yeah, no, no.

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Oh, I get it.

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I get it.

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I get it.

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But not preparing.

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So we in this region are going to be the

object lesson for that preparation because

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we prepared as best we could, not knowing

that it would be a thousand year storm.

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My family lived through.

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In 1916 a flood on the same set of rivers.

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That decimated Asheville and I grew

up with those stories of, of the

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things that came down the river, the

people who died, how hard it was to

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rebuild the infrastructure in 1916.

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At that point, the river then, and we'll

talk about the French broad 'cause that's

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the river closest to me, the French

broad rose, 22.4 feet above its banks.

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In this storm, it rose 27.

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So that's the difference in,

in 110 years, but for us, we.

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We never thought we

would be a relief agency.

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We had a small food pantry

that served a small community.

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And and Amelia, I, I was laughing the

other day about, you remember at the last

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circle of council meeting we discussed

the food pantry and how much money we

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needed to put towards it every month.

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And I just said, look, we're

not just a food pantry.

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We're a goddess temple.

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And now of course, we are both a food

pantry and a goddess temple, because.

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As of, I don't even know how many

days ago, let's just say two weeks, my

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friend Beth Trigg contacted me late at

night and she said Swannanoa, which is

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a small town outside of Asheville, and

it's a beautiful valley, and I think

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actually Swannanoa is either a Cherokee

or a Creek word that means beautiful

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valley, was decimated and they needed

help and they needed it right now.

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And so I got her in touch with

beloved Asheville, which is a,

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an amazing organization run by an

amazing woman named Amy Cantrell.

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And then she said, but we

need this and we need that.

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And I put out the all call

then that we need water.

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We need diapers.

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We need volunteers.

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We need, and you can go back on my

Facebook page and on mother Grove's

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Facebook page, and you can see how

we've kind of consistently every

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day said, these are what we need

and bring them in, please bring.

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And we're in a central

location that still had power.

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And that's really the key.

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The temple flooded because it

always floods, because our old

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building has bad French drains.

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It flooded, but we came in and

we just started gathering, we

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started the in gathering of things.

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And then, because we're not a huge

organization, we're not beloved Asheville,

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we would target different communities,

fill up someone's car with everything that

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we could, primarily water, food, diapers,

formula, and we would send them out.

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And we were sending out three to four

carloads a day to different places.

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We went to elder homes we well like

apartment complexes for the elderly.

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We went to outlying communities.

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We, we, well, we just went to

a lot of different places and

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just left everything we could.

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And it, it has been amazing

how that has just happened.

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And our intention as a temple

was that we would say, please

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donate to this relief effort.

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And we were going to divide that

money up between beloved Asheville.

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Who we have a great rapport with

and the cathedral of all souls,

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which is our home in the winter.

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They let us use the parish hall and

they were in Biltmore village and they

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took substantial damage and flooding.

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And whatever we can raise for them

will be a drop in the bucket to

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restore that historic building.

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But that was our intention.

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And then, and then we became a

resource center and people would

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say, Hey, you know, over at this

place, they're giving away water.

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And we would, I would look around

the room and go, who wants to

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make a run over to that place?

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And they would run and they would come

back with literally cases of water.

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The first run we did, I went out to,

and it was Z Strouderman who also

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serves on our circle of counsel and

myself, to a place called Barnardsville,

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because we had been told that they

were just desperately in need.

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So we loaded up Z's four wheel drive.

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We went out there.

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The road out there was good.

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We got off the interstate.

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That road was good, but a quarter

mile on either side of the road.

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It was apocalyptic and we got to the

place we were told to go and we, I

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don't know, I have no expectations

at all right now about anything,

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but this group of anarchists is

the best way I can describe them.

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A lot of them are with our

firefly community, which is

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a primitive skills group.

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They'd taken an old firehouse.

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and they had totally organized it.

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So you go here if you're missing

for missing persons, you go here

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for first aid, you go here to

the welcome table and they will

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direct you to where you need to go.

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You go here for food, you go here for

clothes, you go around the side of the

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building and there are 10 by 10 pop ups

erected, and there were probably, I don't

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know, thousands of cases of bottled water.

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And they had people directing

traffic, so if you were coming

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in to pick up, you went one way.

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If you were coming in to

deliver, you went another way.

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You opened the back of your vehicle,

people came, they unloaded, they

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took it where it was supposed to go.

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It was the most organized

thing I've ever seen.

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Sorry, this is long.

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Sorry, I haven't talked this much.

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Except to say, load your car, go there.

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That as an example to us

of how it can be done.

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If we can do this, anybody in any

community can do it, but you need to know

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how you need to figure you, you need to

have a plan and we didn't have a plan.

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We're, we're, I mean, we're

pulling it out of our asses.

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We go but we will have a plan

because we're going to go back

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through all that we did, and we can

have a plan to give to communities.

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So whatever your natural disaster

is, you can organize that, because

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we are not, we're not doing

anything anybody else couldn't do.

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We're just not.

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Anybody could do this.

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We were lucky we had space, and that space

had power, which makes it nice because

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you can boil water and have a cup of tea.

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We have a volunteer who comes in

every day and brings us hot meals,

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brings the volunteers hot meals.

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So the goal at this point

for me personally is to,

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is to keep a good record.

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And that's what this notebook is that I've

been writing in to keep a good record.

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Not only the people who have volunteered,

but of the people who've sent things,

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the places they've gone so that I

can create a document that can go to

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any community and they can adjust it.

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For the specifics of their terrain and

environment, and then they can, they can

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do it because if we can do it, anybody

can do it, but they have to do it, and

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they have to not sit on their hands,

because there are people right now in this

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community who could be coming to Mother

Grove and just sitting and waiting and

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holding the fort so that other people

could leave, but they're not, they're

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not, and it is probably, probably My

biggest joy, but also my biggest complaint

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about the pagan community in general

and the witch community in general,

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is that they're really good online.

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They, they, they look really, really good.

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I need them to walk their talk.

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And I need to see more of that because

the people here are doing that.

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The people of Mother Grave

Goddess Temple are doing that.

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And I, my personal plea to

everyone out there is get ready,

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get ready because it's coming.

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We are eight hours from the coast.

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Okay.

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We're six hours from the

South Carolina coast.

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We're hours from the coast and

we got hit with a hurricane.

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And if you think that can't happen to

you on the Great Lakes, you're wrong.

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You're absolutely wrong.

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So circles on the ground.

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And I'll say one tiny thing about Feral

Church because Feral Church is always It's

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an outgrowth of my work at Mothergrove,

is that this is all about saying you

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find the divine, you find goddess

where she is, and she is everywhere.

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So you don't have to go into a special

building, you don't have to go to a

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special festival, you can do all of that

and it's beautiful, but she's right here.

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She is right here, right now.

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I want to piggyback off of that

if I can, too, and kind of go

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back on the online aspect of this.

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Because there was a big part

of this that started when

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Asheville had no connectivity.

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We went for about two and a half days

where nobody could communicate to anybody.

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And the Pagan community is

incredibly strong online.

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It is one of our best aspects, I think.

359

:

And sometimes it is, it

can be our downfall too.

360

:

But in this, on those three

days, it was incredible.

361

:

Because Here I am.

362

:

I'm down in Concord, you know, pretty

good distance away, but my entire

363

:

community is there and I can't get in.

364

:

I can't hear from them.

365

:

And of course, I'm not the

only one that feels this way.

366

:

There's a lot of people that love our

community and stay very much in touch.

367

:

And our weird army was doing their

best to be boots on the ground.

368

:

From all over the country, we

were looking, we were checking the

369

:

GIS maps to see if the landslides

were affecting people's homes.

370

:

We did everything we can to

find the right information.

371

:

And I know that there were a couple

of occasions when connectivity

372

:

was so limited that every message

count, every single one counted.

373

:

And we were Breaking down maps and

relaying information to the people

374

:

that we could, so that hey, it's the

first day we know you don't have water.

375

:

This location closest to you is they

have water and they have groceries

376

:

and they have power, and you have a

little bit of cell phone signal there.

377

:

It was that in important for every

communication to count because

378

:

it, you didn't know what was

gonna get through and what didn't.

379

:

Now, when we were in the

state, the community was.

380

:

Scared online.

381

:

We were very worried and concerned and

also feeling intense helplessness, had

382

:

no idea how to reach the people that we

loved and wanted to lift out of this.

383

:

And that's when I started to see people

get more organized and figure out

384

:

where we could communicate the right

information and where it needed to go.

385

:

On that day that we

finally got communication.

386

:

There's nothing that can

describe that sense of relief.

387

:

When you know that people are still

there, so I would say that we're strong

388

:

online and there are things that even

if you are two hours away and you

389

:

cannot access people that you can do,

then not all of them are monetary.

390

:

Yes, a good portion of that is,

but making sure that every point of

391

:

communication counts and is the right

information that matters a whole lot to.

392

:

And I want to piggyback on that by saying.

393

:

I woke up day before yesterday, I

think time is irrelevant at this

394

:

point and and it's getting cold here.

395

:

It's October, it's getting cold.

396

:

And I thought I am going to talk

to my fiber friends and say, if you

397

:

are somebody who knits or crochets.

398

:

Send us warm woolies.

399

:

Send us, and I started with caps.

400

:

If you know how to knit what we call

in the mountains, a toboggan hat,

401

:

which is a, you know, a beanie thing.

402

:

We would love those.

403

:

And the whole point of that was, was

to engage the people that I know wanted

404

:

to do something, but didn't know what

to do because it's, they can knit or

405

:

they can bring their knitted things or

fiber art things that they already do.

406

:

And they could really, really be

helping because it's getting cold.

407

:

Well, I had no idea

how that would explode.

408

:

All over the country.

409

:

So I think, I think by by

Yuletide, we will have like

410

:

thousands of hats and scarves.

411

:

And socks and, and I was trying to be

very clear that I wanted them to be

412

:

handmade so that as you're working it,

you're putting in your own magic and

413

:

your love and your care and your comfort.

414

:

And people would say, well, you know,

I can get them in bulk from Amazon.

415

:

And I go, no, please don't.

416

:

Because the whole point is that this

would be a magical goddess filled act.

417

:

From your needles or your hook directly

to the head and neck of somebody that

418

:

you will never know You'll never know who

got it You will only know that you were

419

:

the hands of the goddess and and we'll

see we'll see we've already gotten three

420

:

enormous generous like garbage bags full

of stuff and that will go to beloved

421

:

community because they they They take care

of our homeless citizens all the time.

422

:

So that, that will never be bad.

423

:

And, and we are stocking up on canned

food because canned food lasts forever.

424

:

So yeah, it's been amazing.

425

:

And Mia has been such a huge part of

that because she is a mycelium mama.

426

:

And right now that's.

427

:

That's a great irony of having this

much rain and then that warm weather

428

:

is that the earth and the mycelium

people have given us so many flushes

429

:

of beautiful mushrooms to eat.

430

:

And that's just how that works

and and magically or energetically

431

:

speaking, elderberry is blooming

again elderberry, which is.

432

:

The cure for all ills.

433

:

St.

434

:

John's Wort is blooming again,

which is a wonderful nerve

435

:

thing for calming people down.

436

:

It's, it's extraordinary.

437

:

And I want to say one quick thing

about, in addition to being a relief

438

:

center, we are also a goddess temple.

439

:

So at two o'clock every day, Eastern

time as a Facebook live, one of our

440

:

priestesses, and in this case, it's Mary

Jane Finley, will come on to do a brief

441

:

meditation and we light the candles on

the main altar and it's very quiet and

442

:

it's a chance for people to just sit.

443

:

And be quiet together.

444

:

People gather in the temple to do that.

445

:

We also have set up an outdoor altar for

the missing and the dead and today at

446

:

four and we don't know when this will air.

447

:

But in the past on this day at four,

we're doing a ritual of gratitude.

448

:

And grief and Liz, you had said something

about being more joyful and we are

449

:

joyful because so many of us survived.

450

:

So we, we're grateful that we were aware.

451

:

Yes.

452

:

Oh, thank you so much.

453

:

And Byron, I know you need to

run to go get ready for work.

454

:

So I just want to thank you for

taking time out of your very

455

:

busy schedule to share with us.

456

:

And Mia, if you've got a little more time,

maybe we can chat for a few more minutes.

457

:

Absolutely.

458

:

Much gratitude, Byron.

459

:

It's always a gift to have you with me.

460

:

So thank you all so much.

461

:

And Liz, thanks for taking

the time to tell our story.

462

:

We need that too.

463

:

Absolutely.

464

:

Yeah.

465

:

Thank you.

466

:

God is blessed.

467

:

And Mia, I wanted to say to You know

what Byron was saying it, it reminded

468

:

me in my, in my book, and this is a

much smaller example, but in my book

469

:

I wrote about a few years ago being

present to a man's death on a hiking

470

:

trail that I was on with my kids.

471

:

And what that experience was like.

472

:

He was in his forties.

473

:

I, we don't, you know, it's hard

to know what happened to him,

474

:

but he, I mean, he was healthy.

475

:

He had a heart attack.

476

:

He fell down and died in front

of his wife and small child.

477

:

And you know, it wasn't a super remote

place, but it was remote enough that.

478

:

A helicopter needed to be flown in to get

him out and in the meantime, you know,

479

:

there's this, there's this medical crisis

that's occurring in front of so many of us

480

:

who were just out on the trail to have a

good day and as was he, and what struck me

481

:

about it was There was so much that struck

me about it and I'm, I can feel myself

482

:

kind of tearing up as I talk about it

still because it was such a, an incredibly

483

:

powerful and sorrowful and moving

experience was that it was witnessing

484

:

what Byron just said, that the goddess

is here, that everybody who saw it just

485

:

Just launch themselves into their higher

selves in whatever way that they could.

486

:

And so there were medical professionals

who happened to be on the trail who

487

:

Jumped in and were trying to save this

man's life and my two kids, you know, my

488

:

my former partner had the the incredible

instinct to call this little girl who

489

:

was his child over and invite her to

play with my kids because What we had was

490

:

our children and our family and we could

distract this little girl While her mom

491

:

sat with her dying father You There were

people who were clearly praying and like

492

:

other people who were holding space to

not let anybody get too close, you know,

493

:

so that people could work with him and it

was like, Everybody just knew like there

494

:

was not we just knew how to show up as

expressions and emanations of the divine.

495

:

And so I think that maybe, and I

don't say this lightly, because I

496

:

know how much suffering there is, but

maybe that is the gift or the silver

497

:

lining in these horrible, horrible

tragedies is that we remember that we

498

:

just what Byron said, we are there.

499

:

We are her.

500

:

We are her.

501

:

There is nothing outside of ourselves.

502

:

We are her.

503

:

I couldn't agree more.

504

:

And the whole theory that the mycelium

network from Mother Grove started talking

505

:

about this when I joined the council,

Circle of Council, I recognized, even

506

:

though I lived an hour and a half

away from Asheville, that I wanted to

507

:

be a part of a spiritual community.

508

:

Deeply.

509

:

And that I wanted to serve and help and

I have talents that are a little unique,

510

:

you know, I have a marketing background.

511

:

So what am I going to do with that talent?

512

:

I want to help with the social media.

513

:

I want to help do these different items.

514

:

And I thought if I was feeling

that way, there had to be

515

:

more people feeling that way.

516

:

I can't be the only one.

517

:

So when I joined the Circle Council,

what I wanted to do is create a mycelium

518

:

network of volunteers, not based off of

the task at hand, but based off of the

519

:

ability of the people willing to serve.

520

:

So the idea, much like our mushroom

friend, relay information from tree to

521

:

rock to river, that This network could

form a way to jump in and have the

522

:

resources already at hand, no matter

what happens and in our mycelium network.

523

:

When you sign up, you actually fill out a

questionnaire of how do you want to serve?

524

:

And that could be.

525

:

Anywhere from lending cleanup help

to providing comfort and having

526

:

experience in mental health services,

one of our volunteers actually.

527

:

Is familiar with grant writing.

528

:

So these are the things

that we're trying to reach.

529

:

And I feel that at this time, when we

were trying to get contact with our

530

:

locals, and when they had no cell phone.

531

:

Connectivity or Internet, this is where

we saw the outside of this network

532

:

start to jump in because people.

533

:

Provided the expertise

that they could offer.

534

:

And that's the key to this

in me, in my opinion, is.

535

:

Only give what you can and when

you can because that is going

536

:

to be the best you'll offer.

537

:

We can only change

those that we can touch.

538

:

But we all touch different

aspects of this world.

539

:

Yeah, absolutely.

540

:

And I want to make sure, I know

Byron already mentioned a couple of

541

:

organizations and obviously Mother

Grove, but I'm going, I want to make sure

542

:

that I have all this in the show notes.

543

:

So if people want to support that

there's some ideas of places you can go.

544

:

So be sure to check those out.

545

:

I'll, I'll do the best I can

and maybe add to them over time.

546

:

If there's, there's more than I know.

547

:

Yeah.

548

:

And I.

549

:

You just even as you were saying that Mia,

I was thinking about the ways in which we

550

:

can serve like I'm A pretty sad knitter,

but but I'm a really, I'm a really solid

551

:

meditator and ritual maker and holding

of, of energetic space in that way.

552

:

And I'm so glad that you and Byron

have both presenced whether we call

553

:

it magic or our intuitive abilities

that the access that we have to.

554

:

Both the seen and the unseen realms,

the material and the, the more liminal

555

:

spaces that all of this matters if we

do it with deep heart and intention.

556

:

And yes, people need money.

557

:

They need financial resources.

558

:

They need tangible stuff.

559

:

They need food.

560

:

They need water.

561

:

They need tampons.

562

:

They need diapers.

563

:

They need all of that.

564

:

And to your point, we give

what we can and that that has

565

:

expressions of her is enough.

566

:

It is enough.

567

:

I'll do that.

568

:

It is enough.

569

:

Absolutely.

570

:

Absolutely.

571

:

Because what, what happens from that?

572

:

I believe, and we are seeing, is that

these circles are formed in our physical

573

:

communities and our virtual communities.

574

:

I can't get up to Asheville and

help them, and that kills me.

575

:

It, it, survival, survivor's

guilt is a real thing.

576

:

I'm completely unaffected down

here in Charlotte and Concord.

577

:

My day has just kept on going.

578

:

But, I Am able to make a difference by

making every point of communication count

579

:

by jumping in and following that intuitive

instinct to say, what do you need?

580

:

How can I make this happen?

581

:

What can I ask the community

outside and how can they contribute?

582

:

That's what I feel we can all do when we

are in these situations, is lean into our

583

:

own intuitive instincts and find where.

584

:

Our expertise can be best used.

585

:

Yes.

586

:

Mm.

587

:

Well, I this feels like a good place

to pause that you have taken time

588

:

out of your work day to join me.

589

:

I'm so grateful.

590

:

I know Byron has been

running around like crazy.

591

:

So I just really want to thank you

for your time being here with me today

592

:

and your heart and your dedication

and all that you are bringing.

593

:

It's a gift and an honor to

know you and to be able to

594

:

share what you all are doing.

595

:

So thank you so much.

596

:

Mia.

597

:

I really am grateful to you.

598

:

Thank you, Liz, for having us.

599

:

And I do want to mention we on

our website, we have a call to

600

:

action if people are interested.

601

:

So you can go to Mother Grove and I'm

sure we can put this in the show notes.

602

:

We have a whole link of how you can help.

603

:

With relief efforts.

604

:

Yes, I will definitely put that in.

605

:

And then also when you're talking

about your volunteer coordinator, can

606

:

we can anybody from anywhere in the

country get on your mycelium network?

607

:

Can we be a part of it?

608

:

Absolutely.

609

:

Okay, absolutely.

610

:

And we can find that on the website too.

611

:

Yeah.

612

:

So that is a separate Google link.

613

:

Because it's to a google doc, but I can

make sure we provide that for you Perfect,

614

:

and I can put that in the show notes too.

615

:

Awesome All right, my heart is with you

My heart is with the people of western

616

:

north carolina and My heart is with all

of you who are listening and whatever

617

:

it is that you're navigating together.

618

:

We've got this Sending you so much.

619

:

Love.

620

:

Thank you again.

621

:

Mia and all of you Take so good

take so much care of yourselves

622

:

and I I will be back with you soon

623

:

Home to Her is hosted by me, Liz Kelley.

624

:

You can visit me online at hometoher.

625

:

com, where you can find show

notes and other episodes.

626

:

You can read articles about the

Sacred Feminine, and you'll also

627

:

find a link to join the Home to

Her Facebook group for lots more

628

:

discussion and exploration of Her.

629

:

You can also follow me on Instagram,

at home to her, to keep up to

630

:

date with the latest episodes.

631

:

Thanks so much for joining us

and we'll see you back here soon.

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About the Podcast

Home to Her
The Home to Her podcast is dedicated to elevating the wisdom of the Sacred Feminine. Join host Liz Kelly for intimate conversations with acclaimed authors, artists, teachers, poets and mystics, each of whom will help us learn more about Sacred Feminine history, Her spiritual ideas and how to connect with this wisdom right now.

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Liz Kelly